Bill Baroni's rise to power came to a crashing halt after Bridgegate

10/18/11
Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of NY/NJ Bill Baroni was the guest speaker at the Mercer County Regional Chamber of Commerce`s October Power Luncheon at the Trenton Marriott ./gregg slaboda photo

Hamilton native Bill Baroni of the NY-NJ Port Authority shows off renovations on the World Trade Center memorial back in 2011. Trentonian Photo/JACKIE SCHEAR

Extremely intelligent, disciplined, and politically savvy.

These are all characteristics used to describe Bill Baroni, the former Port Authority deputy executive director who resigned last month in the wake of growing scrutiny from the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

Unlike Baroni, the alleged political payback scheme against the Fort Lee mayor has been called stupid, vindictive and petty.

The exact involvement the 42-year-old Hamilton resident had in the conspiracy has yet to be fully defined as the investigation remains ongoing.

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Tracing his footsteps, Baroni gained his momentum in politics locally and made several key moves to secure his power before his fall from grace.

In 1999, a fresh-faced Baroni in his late 20s made his first run in politics for a council seat in Hamilton.

He faced Democratic challenger Vincent Capodanno.

“Toward the end of the campaign, I started to realize what a bright, intelligent man he was,” said Capodanno, who ultimately defeated Baroni but thought he got lucky. “After the election he came up to me, he shook my hand. He was real nice and he became friends with me.”

Capodanno watched Baroni’s star grow politically.

“Everybody got along with him in politics,” Capodanno said. “He wasn’t like a real strict hardcore, right-wing Republican and a lot of Democrats liked him. He worked well with both sides of the aisle.”

As the recent Bridgegate scandal unfolded, Capodanno said he shocked to hear Baroni’s name in the mix.

“I couldn’t believe in my wildest dreams that Billy would get involved in this,” he said. “He doesn’t have that personality — he’s not a bully — he’s not vindictive.”

The defining moment

Baroni’s next battle was an uphill climb.

In 2003, Baroni faced Democratic incumbent Gary Guear for a state Assembly seat in the 14th district.

Early on, Guear criticized his challenger for claiming he was born and raised in Hamilton on campaign literature. Baroni was actually born in Florida and then was adopted by a family in Hamilton.

“All of the sudden, Baroni spun the whole thing that Gary is against adopted people and prejudice,” Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) recalled. “It was just bizarre, but it actually worked and then Gary was put on the defensive for the rest of the campaign.”

Baroni also went on the attack against Guear for hiring his wife as his assistant and making her the highest paid legislative aide.

During the Assembly race, Baroni claimed to knock on 10,000 doors to win over votes, but not everyone is buying it.

“That would be an impossible feat for someone in a campaign,” Gusciora said. “He spun something from legend to factual.”

The newcomer, however, pulled off the upset, becoming the only Republican that year to take down an incumbent Democrat in the state.

The political world took notice.

His campaign manager, Bill Stepien, went on to run two successful campaigns for Gov. Chris Christie.

Stepien was also forced to resign from his post for his role in Bridgegate.

It is believed that the 2003 campaign formed this tight-knit group of Christie operatives, some of whom are tied to the Fort Lee lane closures.

“I think there was a culture in the Christie administration that they would take no prisoners,” Gusciora said. “Baroni’s always been an extreme political animal and I think the culture of take no prisoners was fostered among the Christie operatives.”

Continuing his success in politics, Baroni would win re-election in the Assembly in 2005 and then secure a seat in the state Senate in 2008.

Picking the right horse

Baroni was appointed to his cushy, $289,667 job at the Port Authority shortly after Christie took over as governor in 2010.

The move could be considered as patronage for Baroni’s early support of Christie. Baroni — a prominent state senator — was one of the first persons who endorsed Christie.

“I’ll give Baroni smarts as far as picking a horse,” Gusciora said. “Many Republicans were sitting back not really wanting to take a chance on Christie, but Baroni came out very early and indeed when Christie became governor he appointed him to the Port Authority. Baroni has always been a very smart politician and he was able to latch on Christie right from the get go.”

The stories of Baroni’s tenure at the Port Authority are nothing like the scheme he’s embroiled in.

He helped oversee the construction on One World Trade Center expected to open this year.

Steve Cook, executive director of The Arc Mercer, remembers a time he called on Baroni for help.

His organization — aimed at helping people with developmental disabilities — was planning a trip to a roller coaster park in Ohio two years ago.

Shortly before departure, one of members couldn’t find a required ID to get on the plane.

Nobody from LaGuardia Airport, operated by the Port Authority, would give an answer if the other documents the member had would be enough to pass through security.

Cook called up Baroni explaining if Arc drives this person with severe developmental disabilities to LaGuardia from Mercer County and the individual finds out they had go home alone, that person would be devastated.

“Is there anything you can do?” Cook asked Baroni.

“Within an hour, the director of airline services was in touch with us. They contacted the airline, TSA, and we got a call back stating they’ll take care of it,” Cook said. “It’s the little things that they’re willing to follow up on that I remember about his tenure at the Port Authority. That was a great use of the authority doing something good for people.”

No public discourse

All indications so far have pointed to David Wildstein, another Christie appointee to the Port Authority, as the mastermind of Bridgegate.

The Port Authority has even stated Wildstein, the second in command behind Baroni on the New Jersey side, orchestrated the lane closures and did so without any formal approval.

But as the other executives within the Port Authority caught on, Baroni appeared to want to hide the information.

After Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye sent a letter to employees calling the lane closures an “abusive decision” which violates laws, Baroni emailed back stating that “we need to discuss prior to any communications.”

“Bill we are going to fix this fiasco,” Foye responded after ordering the lanes reopened on Sept. 13.

“I am on way to office to discuss. There can be no public discourse,” Baroni emailed back

Foye then tells Baroni that’s precisely the problem.

Baroni also testified before the legislative transportation committee about the closures.

During his testimony, Baroni claimed the closures were due to a traffic study.

Afterwards, Baroni reached out to Wildstein to see how his performance was.

Cook said he hasn’t read all the emails, but offered up his opinion of the events.

“It looks to me as if Wildstein went and took advantage of his position to be able to manipulate the bridge operators to take front line steps,” he said. “I think Bill probably found out about it after the fact.”

Cook believes Wildstein approached Baroni that he did something wrong.

“I think that’s the kind of position Bill was put in,” he said. “I don’t think Bill really saw all the machinations that went on before it.”

Cook says he’s called and texted Baroni since he’s resigned to make sure he is OK.

“He has not mentioned anything of the incident,” Cook said. “I think he recognizes that events got bigger than him individually. I think he’s very pragmatic in what happened and how he got there.”

His first political challenger has some advice for Baroni.

“Come clean and don’t protect nobody,” Capodanno said. “The people will admire you if you tell the truth. But if you’re going to stonewall and bull**** people, they’re going to see right through you and you’re going to ruin your reputation and political career.”

Efforts to reach Baroni for comment were unsuccessful.

About the Author

Originally from Webster, N.Y., David has been a reporter in N.J. for the past three years (first in Phillipsburg and now in Trenton).He is a Temple alum who interned at the Philadelphia Daily News. Reach the author at dfoster@trentonian.com
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